Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: What to See and Do on France's North Atlantic Islands

Did you know that there’s a piece of France in North America? The islands known as Saint-Pierre et Miquelon are the only part of the French colonial empire in North America that remains under French control—and they're just 16 miles off the coast of Canada.

Ile aux Marins is one of the eight islands in the SPM archipelago.

The #1 must-see is Ile aux Marins (Sailor's Island). It’s an island preserved the way it was back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when traditional fishermen lived there, before modern technology rendered them obsolete. Ile aux Marins is the soul of SPM and tells the story of its heritage and history as a bustling center of the French fishing industry.

Here’s where the ferry from Saint-Pierre drops you off on Ile aux Marins.

Ile aux Marins is just a 15-minute ferry ride from Saint-Pierre. The ferry costs two euros and goes back and forth between Saint-Pierre and Ile aux Marins every two hours in summertime.

_"Fluctuat nec mergitur" means "It is tossed by the waves but doesn't sink.”

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You can take a three-hour island tour on offer from the tourist information office in Saint-Pierre, or you can explore it by yourself. I recommend both, in that order.

If the weather's nice, bring a picnic! Take the island tour in the morning, then stay on the island after the other tourgoers leave so you can explore on your own.

After your picnic, go for a stroll.

Ile aux Marins is half museum, half summer home for descendants of the SPM families who once lived there and have kept houses there. The houses have wind power and generators; people live in them only in the summertime.

On the island you'll find freshly painted, well-preserved houses…

…as well as weathered, disheveled ones. These houses were inhabited by large families of cod fishermen a hundred years ago.

A weathered window on Ile aux Marins.

The Musée Archipélitude

The island's Musée Archipélitude displays a wealth of artifacts that explain SPM's heritage. Our tour guide told us that “archipélitude” translates to something like “colonial inhabitants of the archipelago.”

The museum's preserved schoolroom.

“Vive la France!” says the blackboard.

Musée Archipélitude, Ile aux Marins

There’s also a room housing artifacts from the 1971 wreck of Poseidon Line's Transpacific, a German ship that sunk in SPM waters.

Musée Archipélitude

Apparently 600 shipwrecks have occurred off SPM in the past 150 years.

Musée Archipélitude

The museums on Ile aux Marins contain some wacky artifacts—like this melted cash register, rescued from the ashes of a fire in Saint-Pierre.

Back on Saint-Pierre, we signed up for a private Saint-Pierre island tour in a minivan with Jean-Claude of Le Caillou Blanc. It cost $20 per person for 1.5 hours and was our second favorite activity in SPM. Jean-Claude is a lovely man and brought bread for feeding horses in fields along our route.

Since most places and activities in SPM are closed on Sunday mornings, but Jean-Claude was available, we booked him for Sunday morning—and that proved to be a wise use of our limited time in SPM.

The lighthouse at Pointe aux Canons.

This lighthouse at the entrance to the harbor is a symbol of Saint-Pierre, and from Jean-Claude's car we got to see it from many viewpoints.

A traditional "cabestan," which means capstan or boat winch.

The backdrop is the island of Langlade.

Home of the Prefect of SPM.

This is the prettiest house I saw on the island of Saint-Pierre. The Prefect, who lives there, is appointed by the President of France.

North America’s only guillotine—at L’Arche Musée et Archives

My second favorite SPM museum, after the Musée Archipélitude, was the Musée Heritage, conveniently located off Saint-Pierre's main square, just a one-minute walk from the tourist information office. But the guillotine is at L’Arche Musée, about a ten-minute walk from the square, along the waterfront.

Fortune, Newfoundland, is the remote town, a five-hour drive from the capital of St. John’s, where you catch the ferry to SPM.

There are two ways to get to Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. One is to take the Saint-Pierre Ferry from Fortune, Newfoundland—a tiny, charmless town at the southern tip of the Burin Peninsula, about a five-hour drive from St. John’s. The other is to fly there on Air Saint-Pierre. As someone who took the ferry, I am telling you to fly—if you can make the infrequent service work for your schedule (I couldn't). Flying is quicker and more comfortable, and Air Saint-Pierre is apparently very reliable, no matter the weather. The airline operates flights to SPM from four cities in Canada: St. John’s (a 45-minute flight); Sydney, Nova Scotia (a 1-hour flight); Halifax, Nova Scotia (a 1-hour 30-minute flight); and Montreal (a 3-hour 15-minute flight).

The Saint-Pierre ferry ticket office in Fortune, Newfoundland

There are three main reasons why I don’t recommend the ferry. The whole process takes a lot of time—much more than just the five-hour drive from St. John’s to Fortune and the one-hour ferry crossing. You must arrive in Fortune at least an hour before the ferry to collect your tickets (make advance reservations!), complete other paperwork, drive your car to one of the parking lots (cars are not allowed on the ferry and cannot be brought to SPM), and take the shuttle back to the pier. There’s a long line both to board the ferry and to disembark in SPM, plus a long line to go through border control. We left St. John’s at 7:00 a.m. in order to catch the 2:45 pm ferry, and we did not get to our Saint-Pierre hotel until 5:00 p.m.

Click to the next slide for reasons #2 and #3.

Le Cabestan ferry, docked in Saint-Pierre’s harbor.

Le Cabestan ferry is not one of those charming old-fashioned ferries where you stand out on deck and see pretty scenery. It’s a high-speed, enclosed ferry where you sit indoors throughout, airline-style, with hardly any view; the windows are too clouded.

A lot of people get seasick. The water is rough—no surprise, given that the waters around SPM have seen 600 shipwrecks in the past 150 years. Many people on our ferry were sick to their stomachs, and the smell became almost as nauseating as the motion. So, if your schedule forces you to take the ferry rather than fly, be sure to sit as far to the rear of the ferry as possible, to minimize motion sickness.

The ferry terminal and the Place du General de Gaulle: This is the main square of Saint-Pierre.

The locals say that the best time of the year for good weather is August, September, or October: Skies are relatively clear and dry, and the temperature is comfortable. We went for two nights in mid-August and had perfect sunny weather. We wish we'd been able to stay three nights: We would have liked to see the island of Miquelon, but that requires a full-day trip from Saint Pierre, so you really need three nights if you want to work Miquelon into your trip.

Thanks to the helpful tourist information office, you can pretty safely wait till you arrive in SPM to figure out a plan of action for your time there. We arrived on a Friday afternoon in August and, at 6:00 p.m. Friday, were able to book everything we wanted for Saturday and Sunday through the tourist office.

The tourist information office on Saint-Pierre.

The tourism information office is easy to find, right in the main square, a two-minute walk from the ferry pier, and it's very user-friendly.

A typical Saint-Pierre street sign.

Saint-Pierre is also easy to navigate. Practically everything you need is within easy walking distance of the main square.

Breakfast at Nuits Saint-Pierre, the nicest place to stay on the island.

We stayed at Nuits Saint-Pierre, a cozy five-room inn with an excellent location just a two-minute walk from both the tourist information office and the ferry pier. We were very comfortable there, the breakfast (included in the night’s stay) was delicious, and connected to the inn is a tea room that is open for lunch.

The lovely staff at Les Délices de Josephine: The lady at left grew up in SPM; the lady at right is from Mauritius and married a Saint-Pierrais.

Nuits Saint-Pierre has a tea room, Les Délices de Josephine, that I recommend for lunch.

The only meal we enjoyed in SPM: Quiche Lorraine and a ham and cheese sandwich at Les Délices de Josephine.

Aside from the lunch you see pictured here, we were seriously underwhelmed by the food on the island. We ate dinner at two restaurants that came highly recommended: L'Atelier Gourmand and Le Feu de Braise. Two other couples from our hotel dined at the same two restaurants and were also disappointed. In fact, one woman became ill after dinner in one restaurant, and the other became ill after dinner in the other. My stomach felt rumbly after both dinners, but that may have been a prolonged aftereffect of that rocky ferry ride.

So my advice has to be: Do not go to SPM for the food! Apparently France's good chefs looking for an island lifestyle choose St. Barts or St. Martin rather than SPM.

The SPM flag. Cool, huh?

Do not go to SPM for the shopping either. We found few shops that were open—on a weekend in the peak season of August—and, even if they had been open, we saw no enticing selection of things to buy. All we ended up buying was this SPM flag to take home to the kids.